Pistons' offense lets them down against the Bulls

By Dave Pemberton

Thursday, November 28, 2013

AUBURN HILLS — Typically offense has not been the problem for the Pistons this year. Detroit has been in the upper half of the league in points per game and field goal percentage for most of the season.

But offense was clearly the problem in the second half of the Pistons’ loss to the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night.

The Pistons hit just 2 of 12 3-pointers and shot 9 for 19 from the free-throw line.

The season-low 12 assists was likely a result of the ball not moving like it should.

“I thought tonight it stopped moving a little bit,” Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey said. “We gotta do a better job of executing. Getting our plays out there, figuring out what plays are working and just run them. The ball was not moving the way it should be and we have to correct those things.”

“That’s something we talked about early on, about keeping the ball on one side of the floor, not allowing their defense to stymie us on the side,” Pistons coach Mo Cheeks said. “The ball didn’t swing, (Chicago’s) defense loads up and then you put a lot of pressure on your offense to score. As you see we didn’t score.”

Both of Detroit’s point guards struggled offensively. Brandon Jennings had 10 points, three assists and was 4 for 5 from the field in the first quarter, but after that he had just two points and one assist, and was 1 for 8 from the field.

Bynum never got it going, finishing was two points on 1 for 7 shooting with zero assists.

“Maybe their defense picked up a little bit on the pick-and-roll and didn’t allow him much room to operate,” Cheeks said of Jennings. “He didn’t get as many shots in the second half as we would have liked or he would have liked. With Jennings and Will Bynum we need some scoring. ... If you’re not getting either from Bynum or Jennings you’re going to have a hard time scoring.”

Stuckey continued his hot streak and finished with 25 points on 9 for 16 shooting. He was 7 for 8 from the free-throw line.

“He’s been great for us all season,” Greg Monroe said of Stuckey. “He’s been aggressive. He’s been playing downhill, getting to the rim. He’s been real consistent this year. We have to start getting more players to be as consistent as him.”

Stuckey is one of the top scorers off the bench in the NBA. Stuckey’s 16.6 points per game is second only to Sacramento’s Isaiah Thomas (17.9) for most points of the bench.

Wednesday the Pistons might have got caught watching Stuckey at points, but Cheeks doesn’t see it as a problem moving forward.

“That’s the way we are going to play,” Cheeks said. “Stuckey’s not a selfish player. If he doesn’t have a shot he’ll pass it to someone else. When a guy’s scoring the ball we allow that guy to score. If he’s not scoring the ball kind of shifts. That’s the way we play. He’s not a selfish player so if he’s not scoring and he doesn’t have a shot, he will pass the ball and different guys have opportunities to score.”

The loss Wednesday ended Detroit’s first win streak of the season at two. The Pistons (6-9) still have two games left on a four-game homestand. Detroit hosts the Lakers Friday and the 76ers Sunday.

“Yes, we wanted to take advantage of being at home, but we can’t get discouraged with (the) loss,” Monroe said.

“We’re not panicking. We lost (Wednesday), but it’s not like it’s the end of the world. It was a bad loss. We could have played better, but it’s not over for us. We still have a long season and a long way to go as a team.”